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Oneiromancy
Although the corrupt dream-magic of the Path of Morpheus had been used by the Sabbat for decades, the original augury that it was based upon has been a long held secret by the Tremere. Oneiromancy, divination rooted in the somnolent state of consciousness, is actually based upon ancient Greek philosophies of prophecy. The Tremere, adopting these ancient sortileges, developed them into the thaumaturgical path of Oneiromancy shortly after their transformation to vampiric magi. With the recent loss of the Sabbat's Tremere antitribu, the Path of Morpheus has since fallen from common knowledge, and Oneiromancy no longer carries the stigma once associated with its practitioners. With the approaching of Gehenna, the elders of Clan Tremere have again rethought their disdain of Oneiromancy in the clan in an effort to gain more information on unfolding events. Use of any of these powers requires at least five minutes of reading the signs during which the Warlock goes into a trance similar to sleep. Awareness of his surroundings is limited, and he can "awaken" from the trance at any time but will suffer the same penalties as if awakening during the day for three turns (maximum dice pool equals his Humanity score). Oneiromancy powers can also be used while the thaumaturge is in torpor. * Portents From the ephemeral fragments of his own dreams, the magus may attempt a personal reading of the near future. While asleep, the oneiromancer draws upon the dream imagery flittering in the unconscious. Upon waking from the divination, the Cainite may scrutinize the meaning of the visions. Although these visions of the present and future are invariably hazy, they often provide important glimpses into significant events. ''System:'' This power of Oneiromancy must be used immediately after awakening and takes the thaumaturge 10 minutes to read the signs. With a successful activation roll, the Storyteller relates disjoined dream images allegorically (or sometimes literally) concerning one forthcoming personal event to the oneiromancer. This event is completely up to the Storyteller's discretion, and multiple uses of Portents may well result in the same vision occurring over and over again. The Portent should always be fragmented and cryptic, although the more successes scored on this activation roll, the more information the Storyteller should relay to the player. ** Foresee Foresee lets the Warlock look into the mind of a sleeping individual, interpreting her dreams as clues to future events involving that individual. Used by thaumaturges in soothsaying, oneiromancers sometimes gain the trust of people while gleaming unconscious secrets from the targets. ''System:'' This power behaves similar to Portents, but the imagery comes from the dreams of the target and the divination concerns an event for that person. The subject must be within the presence of the oneiromancer and asleep for Foresee to work, though Psychic Projection also works if the thaumaturge is not physically present. Additionally, if a Kindred is the subject of this power, the thaumaturge must spend a Willpower point to successfully see and understand the prognostication. *** Dreamspeak The oneiromancer can now send messages to others in dream form. Although these messages appear while the target is asleep, the subject remembers them clearly after waking. Since these messages are dreams, those unfamiliar with this power may discount them as such. More nefarious uses have included sending nightmares and threats to a victim. ''System:'' Dreamspeak sends a static dream message determined at the time of sending, to anyone the oneiromancer has previously met. If the subject is not asleep at the time this power is used, the Dreamspeak has no effect. While using this power, magi drop into a trance as with the other divinations of Oneiromancy. One turn's worth of dreams can be sent per success of the activation roll - this won't allow the thaumaturge to haunt her victim for a full night, but it will allow her to leave messages, impart warnings, etc. **** Augury Refining the power of somnolent divination, the oneiromancer is able to seek answers to questions and problems. While specific information can be sought by the oneiromancer, the dream images providing that knowledge have the same disjoined and confusing quality. Augury is helpful in seeking answers to problems, possibly providing the required breakthrough with a dilemma. Since fortune-telling and prophesy is convoluting and bewildering, Augury may not provide any answer that is useful to the thaumaturge, and has been known to be completely misleading, as is often the case with dream-symbols. Let the diviner beware. ''System:'' Where broken and unguided imagery is the hallmark of Portents, Augury provides more direction and continuity. The augury comes to the Warlock in the same dreamlike imageries but the events are better understood. Thaumaturges who achieve this level of skill in the Path of Oneiromancy often have little use for lesser powers. Note that the subject must have the knowledge the thaumaturge seeks, or the power is useless. The Storyteller has the final say on whether an Augury provides any beneficial information, and should not provide any revelations that will ruin a chronicle or plot. ***** Reveal the Heart's Dreams This power of divination works on a much more immediate means, the thaumaturge gaining an immediate insight into the dreams and desires of a person just by observing them directly. The innermost desire of the target becomes instantly apparent to the magus. With this information, a magus is able to approach a person with offers that are next to impossible to deny. It is hard to say no to the thing that you desire most. According to legend, even the hero-king Gilgamesh left his people in his desire for immortality. This revelation of the soul occasionally reveals even more information about the target - that of his greatest of fears. It is this aspect of revelation that some say is the power the Followers of Set use to destroy the souls and virtue of their victims. ''System:'' This power requires the expenditure of a point of Willpower (two, in the case of Kindred subjects) in addition to the normal blood point to activate and the subject must be within sight of the thaumaturge. If any successes are scored on the activation roll, the innermost desire of the target is reveled to the oneiromancer. Additionally, if more successes are gained on the activation roll than the subject has Willpower, the oneiromancer gains an even deeper understanding of the target's soul and learns the victim's innermost fear. The subject's reaction to being confronted with this information is up to the Storyteller (or the player), but remember that it is their ultimate driving passion. When confronted with her inner horror, the subject may be completely paralyzed with fear, or she may frenzy in the tradition of Rotschreck. Again, the exact results are up to the Storyteller, but they should be consistent with confronting one's worst fears. Mortal Hedgemage/-- It is a frequent theme in tales of the fantastic and the magical that odd things often happen in dreams. Omens of the future are sometimes seen, messages from gods or wizards arepassed on. There are tales of lovers who have not yet met, destined for each other, dreaming of their first meeting. The Dream Realm is infinitely malleable, responsive to the conscious and subconscious of the dreamer. A skilled dreamer can impose his will upon the Dream Realm, creating new images and altering the behavior of old, banishing nightmares or crafting new horrors with which to terrorise other dreamers. It is said, too, that there are world and beings that exist wholly within the world of dreams and nightmares, from the realms of the fae to the strange worlds described in the writings of Burroughs, Lovecraft and Poe. Nearly everyone dreams. The oneiromancer walks among those dreams. Like the dreamweavers of horror movie fame, she can craft images so realistic that it is hard to tell the difference between them and reality. Still, they are "only" dreams. Or are they? An overly imaginative subconscious can quite literally dream itself to death, though this is rare. More common are the tales of wicked men who dreamed of their ultimate fate and heeded the warning to reform their ways. Such messages are a fine and subtle weapon of those who walk the dreaming night. And sometimes, dreams can walk amongst men.... Aspects Distance In order to affect a dreamer, the oneiromancer must have some sort of contact with her target. Physical contact is the best, obviously, but the principles of Sympathy and Contagion allow the use of other means. . Direct physical contact .. True Name ... Body part/secretion (Blood, hair, nail clippings, saliva, urine, etc. It must be unmixed with other materials.) .... Prized possession ..... Other possession (Any item that is in frequent contact with or use by the target, such as clothing.) Effects: . The first step the dreamwalker must master is the ability to reach out and touch the dreams of others. They come to her as do most dreams, in flashes of imagery, often highly distorted by the subconscious. The dreamwalker can, with considerable thought, interpret parts of these shattered fragments, perhaps giving her some insight into her target's nature or history. .. Working out the methodology to enter and take part in a dream is the next step. Entering the dream renders you temporarily apart of it; the oneiromancer's dream-self takes on an appearance and initial tole in the dream provided by the dreamer's subconscious (and the Storyteller's feel for what is appropriate). It is not hard to make small changes in the dream (conjuring a small item from nowhere.say), a Wits + Dreamcraft roll at difficulty 6 suffices. Larger changes are very difficult, and the basic theme of the dream sequence is unalterable. Any change which violates it will be at a minimum difficulty of 8 and require multiple successes and will tend to undo itself unless the dreamer pays constant attention to maintaining it. ... Eventually, the dedicated dreamwalker will learn to isolate himself from his subject's dreams. This allows observation of the dream images without being drawn into (possibly quite dangerous) direct participation. A greater degree of control over the dream is also possible now, the dreamwalker banishing or creating nightmares and fantasies. It is possible, for example, to guide a dream to images supporting the selfconfidence and surety of the dreamer, helping him to regain a point of temporary Willpower or to cast horrible terrors that mimic the effect of the Nightmares Flaw. .... Once she has achieved sufficient control over the dream, the next step is to master dream sendings. The oneiromancer can craft a specific, detailed dream sequence and send it off to the target, to be repeated as many times as the caster gains successes on his casting roll. The prudent dreamwalker keeps these to one or two repetitions a night; any more and the subject may grow suspicious. ..... A master of the Dream Realm is a powerful individual; she walks freely in the dreams of others and is capable of melding the dreams of several folk into one (she can bring one person into the dream for each success on the casting roll). Of course, she has no control over the dreamers' actions, and the initial environment will be a mix of their subconscious influences, but careful nudges can send the group into a suitable dream with a bit of effort. ..... The greatest and most legendary power of Oneiromancy is the ability to make the dream real: physical entry into the Dream Realm. One who accomplishes this incredibly difficult feat can walk from dream to dream almost at will and may even be able to bring items (or even living things) out of the dream into the real world for a time. Price of Failure: A botched dreamweaving typically casts the sorcerer into a Nightmare Realm as his own subconscious takes control of the dream. Storytellers are encouraged to reach deep into their bags of tricks. Use the character's fears and memory of past disasters against him. The descriptions of Harrowings in Wraith: The Oblivion can be quite useful in this. Note also that stepping into the dreams of a person who suffers the effects of the Nightmares Flaw can he a disaster all by itself, their dream images are powerful and frequently painful. System: Roll: Wits + Occult. Cost: None